


The Last Chance, Drawing the Last Straw

by KC_R



Series: The Blind Vessel [3]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Body Horror, Character Death, Creepy Wastener likes baby Wyrm wings, Gen, Kidnapping, Soul Master is a bastard, Soul Overdose, You can fill in the dots, baby Hornet is a national treasure as always, graphic content is not in detail, he didn't deserve this, person melting, poor Charlie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:28:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29143737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KC_R/pseuds/KC_R
Summary: Now that the Infection is gone, the Soul Master is told to stop his research. He refuses.
Relationships: Soul Master | Soul Tyrant & Mistake, The Hollow Knight | Pure Vessel & Hornet & The Knight, The Hollow Knight | Pure Vessel & Soul Master | Soul Tyrant
Series: The Blind Vessel [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2127519
Comments: 14
Kudos: 48





	The Last Chance, Drawing the Last Straw

It was stagshit! That’s what all of this was, a cheap attempt to make him give up his studies after everything he’s done! After he poured his blood, sweat, and literal soul into working on this project, and now the King is gonna shut him down?

He grumbled to himself as he stormed down the hallways of the White Palace. The King claimed that the infection was no more! Claimed that his study towards soul was no longer needed because soul was dangerous! What stagshit! The King was just scared that he would unlock the same immortality that he had!

It must’ve been Lurien who told the King that he was getting close to the truth. That traitorous bastard! Lurien has backstabbed him after everything he had done for him! His bribes of sweets and flowers and invitations to candlelight dinners… and love letters… had not worked in winning the Watcher over to his side. Dammit! He was sure that he’d get him with the chocolate covered cherries! The King must’ve already enthralled the Watcher over to his side, for he knew there was no way that the Watcher wouldn’t love him. He was fit, lean, and sexy! Even if he had recently started gaining a few pounds, there was no way any bug in Hallownest wouldn’t fall head over heels for him the moment they laid their eyes upon him. 

He had been enthralled by the Watcher the moment he first saw the butterfly’s face. The soul mutation that resulted in his third eye and weak foresight, and that his proximity to the King slowed down his aging to the point that it was practically nonexistent! He wanted to figure out how that worked, how to increase the chances of soul mutations, how to get that immortality that Lurien had so easily gained. But no, just like Monomon and the Pale King, Lurien was a weak, blind disappointment!

He was stopped by the sound of bangs and clangs, dragging his attention away from his anger and towards the pair of children playing in the hallway. Ghost and Hallow. They were differentiable from not only their carapace color but also their cloaks. Ghost had a darker shade of shell and wore a black cloak while Hallow had a lighter shade of shell and wore a cloak that was white but had long since turned gray. Hallow was shaking a toy, a metal rod with bells, tambourines, and small wind chimes attached to it. They shook it and waved it around while their sibling, Ghost, ran around them, holding a stuffed stag over their head, and the third child, Hornet, the daughter of Deepnest and Hallownest, ran after Ghost with a small wooden nail. 

“Swow Down! You’we undew awwest fow youw cwimes against Hawwownest!” Hornet squealed, managing to wack Ghost. They broke their circle and made a run down the hall, Hornet running after, yelling something while waving her weapon. Hallow was left behind, sitting on the floor and shaking their toy, small, glowing wings peeking out from beneath their grayed cloak. 

The child had wings? Wings? He could practically smell the soul radiating from them, leaking out of the webs. He made a decision then. He was not only not receiving funding from the Capital anymore, but he also didn’t have the green light to continue, and without the Infection rampaging in the city, he had no more excuses. Unless, of course, he finished his research today. Yes, yes he could use the young Wyrm’s soul to finish his research before the King realized it. And then there was nothing he could do because he would have created the cure for aging, disease, death itself. And he was already so close! This was just the push he needed! He crept towards the small child, taking his cape off and holding it over them. With one quick movement, he wrapped the child up and began running, quickly leaving the palace and escaping to the city. Their metal toy and stuffed tiktik fell to the ground as he made haste in his escape.

The King paced through the halls, searching for Hallow. He had found their noisemaker and stuffed tiktik laying in the hallway, but they were nowhere to be seen. Ghost and Hornet ran down the hallway, Ghost slamming into him and almost knocking him over, Hornet slamming into them after they stopped.

“Oh! Ghost, Hornet, have you seen Hallow? I can’t seem to find them anywhere.” He said. Ghost lowered the toy stag from over his head and Hornet peaked out from behind them.

“We saw him just ovew thewe! They wewe neaw the stinky woach!” Hornet said, pointing towards the exit. The King’s heart sank in his chest. 

“Roach? Do you mean the Soul Master? Did you see Hallow leaving with the Soul Master?” He asked.

“Nuh-uh! We didn’t see them! We wewe wunning to get honey tweats for them!” She said, holding out a honey roll. He was on the verge of throwing up.

“Sweetie, can you take Ghost and go stay with your mother until I return? I need you to protect her from the scary roach” He said. Hornet nodded puffing out her chest before grabbing Ghost’s hand and pulling him away. Oh, gods. He had underestimated how unhinged the Soul Master was. Would he hold Hallow for ransom? Or would he commit some unspeakable horror against them? He didn’t have time to think, he needed to stop them as soon as possible.

\----

Hallow wasn’t sure what was happening. They had felt claustrophobic for a long time, thrashing wildly as they were hauled away, screaming for their sibling to help them, and then when the bag was taken off, they were placed upon a cold, stone object and strapped onto it. The room was colder than the void itself, and they could hear the distant drum of water, similar to the sound of when mother would pour droplets of water against their head during bathtime. Thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk, the fast and rhythmic thunking of water against something distant, and the hum of soul. They remembered cold stone tables and the loud humming of soul from father’s workshop, but it was much louder now. 

“Wow. What an interesting specimen.” An unfamiliar void said. Suddenly they felt pin prickles all along their body, like thousands of tiny, squirming legs running over their entire person. “Yes, yes, a very young specimen. Just went through its first molt, hmm? But no sign of cocooning, how curious. It is much colder than it should be. And it has much more soul in its wings than it should. It’s in the perfect stage for harvesting, no way to release the build-up of soul. I do, of course, expect what I requested. I must be on my way soon.” The unfamiliar bug said. They paced for a moment, their shoes making a disgusting, squelching sound with every step. Hallow knew what they could do! They stood very still and focused as hard as they could. They could feel the void thrum underneath their shell, and with a moment of intense focus that hurt their head a little bit, they could feel their surroundings. They regretted it immediately. The unfamiliar bug was thin and tall, very tall, so tall that they had to bend over to fit in the room. Their chest was open slightly, and a tendril hung from it, wrapped around the base of the table they were attached to. They had many limbs that probed and examined them. It wore a strange cloak and a hat and had strange mandibles. 

“Yes, yes, the deal. Charlie, extract one of the vessel’s wings.” What? No! No no no no no! They started struggling. They didn’t want to lose their wings! Mother had said their wings were so pretty, they wanted to make mother happy!

“Are you sure, sir?” Another voice asked. The Soul Master, they knew their voice, sighed.

“No, don’t worry. I am much better at removing these specimens’ wings.” The tall bug said. There was a sound of metal clanking and then they felt immense pain on their back. They wanted to scream. They could already feel tears forming at the corners of their eyes. After a moment or two, they could no longer feel one of their larger wings. “I will take my leave now, friends. Goodbye.” There was the sound of a window opening and then the drumming was much louder. They focused again, seeing that the tall bug was no longer here.

“Close the window, Charlie. Gods, that freak, must he always insist on leaving through the window?” The Soul Master growled. “After you’re done with that, call in Azul, tell him we’re using the prototype tonight. We’re out of time. If the King finds out what we’ve done, we’re all going to be executed for treason.” Footsteps, and then near silence, just the distant drum. Thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk thunk. More footsteps, more people were entering the room. 

“I’m here, Soul Master. I brought the prototype of the Soul Infuser just as you asked.” Another voice, who must be Azul, said. 

“Good, good. Hook it up to the vessel’s wings and then up to Charlie. I need to make sure it works before I use it on myself.” The Soul Master said. 

“Are you sure, sir? I… I don’t think I’m comfortable doing this. Are we sure it works? I don’t know how I feel about being the first to use it.” Charlie stammered. Charlie sounded about Quirrel’s age, if not younger.

“Worry not, my dear student. We’ve tested it before on lesser bugs. If it works on them, it’ll work on you. We just need to quickly push some soul into you, and then we’ll know it works. Don’t worry, my dearest friend.” The Soul Master reassured. They were still crying when they felt something stab through another one of their wings, and then another stab through another one. If they could make a sound, they would be screaming. It hurt so much. They begged into the void for Ghost to come help them.

“Ok, just turn on the machine. If anything feels off, Charlie, tell us immediately and we’ll turn it off.” The Soul Master said. 

“Yes sir,” Charlie muttered back. Then there was a click sound, and they felt more pain in their wings, like someone was pulling on them. The hum of soul got so much louder. They wanted to scream, and to their surprise, they heard screaming. Not of theirs, but of Charlie’s. 

“It hurts! Oh gods it hurts so much! Turn it off! Please turn it off!” Charlie screamed. 

“You heard him! Turn it off!” The Soul Master yelled. There was another click and the hum quieted, but Charlie’s sounds of agony only got louder.

“I can’t feel my arms, sir I can’t feel them. It hurts it hurts so bad I can’t feel my legs. Dad, I don’t wanna die please don’t let me die.” He cried weakly.

“No, it’s not your dad, it’s me, remember me? It’s okay, it’s gonna be okay just stay with me, pal. You’re not gonna die, I promise. Stay awake and it’s all gonna be okay.” There was a wet slick sound, like when the chefs would cut meat down in the freezer and it would land on the ground.

“Oh gods, oh gods are those my--? Beeble, sir, I don’t want to die I don’t want to die please help me please oh gods it hurts it hurts so much it--” His begging turned into wet gargles before he eventually fell silent.

“What the fuck.” Azul muttered, terror in his voice. 

“Gods dammit! Fuck! You told me it was safe! You said you tested it a thousand times! You bastard! Look what you’ve done!” Beeble, also known as the Soul Master, screamed. 

“We did test it! I swear! I don’t know what happened, maybe the flow nozzle broke or something, the amount of soul going through shouldn’t have been that high, I don’t know what went wrong.” Azul said, flipping through papers. There was a slam in the distance that silenced both of them. 

“FUCK! THEY’VE COME TO GET ME!” The Soul Master yelled. “Reactivate the machine! I’m not dying to that bastard, I’m either dying to my life’s research, or I’m going to kill him!”

Another click sound, and their wings were being pulled on again. Why were they doing this? It hurt so bad they felt like they were going to die if it didn’t stop soon. The Soul Master let out a guttural scream of pain, followed by the smashing of glass. The pain didn’t stop. The sound of splintering wood echoed through the room, followed by an explosion. They had heard Azul scream for half a second before they smelled smoke and felt water falling against them. 

“Oh gods, Hallow? Hallow are you okay?” It was father, they were saved. They were pulled off of the stone table and pulled into a gentle hug. Everything hurt, but their wings most of all. They could feel the holes in them. They just wanted to go home. 

\----

The Soul Master was gone, he had escaped through the window when he blew up his machine. Thankfully, Hallow was still alive, but their wings were badly damaged. They wouldn’t be able to fly when they reached maturity. He had gone to Lurien as soon as he knew, and Lurien grabbed his greatnail and told his knights to storm the Soul Sanctum. They had found countless corpses of both common bugs and snails, their bodies drained of all soul. Large canisters of mixed soul were scattered through the halls. Most of the scholars had been identified and arrested, but two were missing. It didn’t take long to find them, one of the missing student’s arms were found at the site of the explosion, and a gelatinous blob had been found crawling down the street several hours later who identified themselves as Charlie Howsier. He’ll never forget the horror of seeing a melted bug dragging themselves down the street, crying out for help in gargled screams. He’s so glad Hallows blind so they don’t have to ever witness that. He knew Howsier and Beeble were close, he can’t believe that Beeble would’ve done that to one of his closest friends. 

The King was disgusted that he had allowed this to happen, disappointed that he hadn’t discovered and stopped it sooner. All of the disappearances in the Capital made sense now, all of the murders, everything was all from the Soul Sanctum. It was closure, at the very least. The families could bury their dead, and Hallow was still alive. Hallow wouldn’t speak of the event. Once they got home, the child ran to their mother and hugged her, and cried for many hours, but thankfully, they would recover. They were alright, everything was going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to make a formal apology to all the Charlie stans, he didn't deserve this but he got fucked over.


End file.
